Piecing Again this week

 

This week I have been piecing again. It just seemed to work for me. I pieced all the flying geese and blocks for the SDSU t-shirt quilt I am making and then laid it out. I haven't finished sewing it together yet.  

Last night I worked on the Hillside Charm Wildlife quilt 2 and then made these little 60* table toppers. I will quilt them, then trim them up. 

Mathew saw this fabric and wanted a mask, so I made one for him. 

I started piecing the yellow/blue strips for a scrappy bargello, but haven't gotten any further. 

I worked on embroidery pieces and started making labels. This one is on a border piece and I really like how it is turning out. 

My car turned over to 100000 miles. I put a lot of miles on it since it is the family vehicle. I bought it at 48000 almost 4 years ago.

Mikaela got a haircut and a 5 strand braid to go with it. 

 

March was a busy month, but I hope to finish up more quilts in April. 

Quilting in June

It seems like June is flying by and I haven't really accomplished much, but it's been so nice to not have any deadlines. I made 4 more Sweet Pea Pods from scraps. I still have a few more to finish up, but so glad these are done.

I entered my Dangerous BOM in the quilt show judging and received an honorable mention ribbon.

Mikaela and I helped with the open sew area. She sewed quite a bit and helped me finish 2 rows.




I had her take a picture of me with my quilt.

I also finished the final blocks for the Ahhhh's quilt and got it sewn into a top. I'm unsure how I will quilt it, but that's ways off so I'm not worried about getting the paper out yet.

I made my dad a pillow out of a block he had from his mom that was never finished. Here's a picture of my grandparents with the pillow.

I started the Crazy Mom Quilts June quilt, quilt along. So far I have lots of strips sewn. I need to do more pressing and sewing.

I made an embroidered towel and washcloth when I got my embroidery machine back. It was acting up and needed a bit of help. These are a gift for a recent grad.

I finished the binding on 8 potholders. These will match our Wine Themed kitchen.

Here's the book I'm using for the June quilt with my first 3 blocks completed. I lost the ruler to trim these up with, so I went to all the quilt shops in town looking for a replacement.... only they didn't have it, so I went home and by pure luck found it.... with my small rulers. I had forgotten I put it there. I have more blocks sewn, but we've been camping and I haven't been sewing.

Once I finished my Ahhhh's quilt top, I worked more on my Sakura quilt top. While we were camping this weekend I was able to get most of the first round sewn on to it.

Last night I had a guild meeting and I was able to sew for 2.5 hours. I got most of the 2nd round completed but realized I was still 2 stars short, so I am now working on those. I'm loving how it's turning out. This one has been super fast and I'm going to be doing another EPP soon.

Next week starts a 2+ week vacation, with a few sprinkled in work days. I am so looking forward to some time to sew. We'll be camping the entire time so the first part will be hand sewing and after the 4th we'll be at Hart Ranch, so I'll have power and be able to sew. Hopefully, I'll get a few more finishes before I leave.

April Accomplishments

My April accomplishments have really made me happy. I finished up the binding on the Dangerous Mystery quilt. I hung it in my office and left it hanging this month. I love how bright and pretty it is.


I made a minkee blanket for Mathew. He picked out the puppy minkee.

I also made a florescent pink/bright minkee blanket for Mikaela. She got a gift card for her birthday to the Sewing Center from her uncle and she wanted a new blanket.

This is the progress on the Sakura quilt I've been working on. It's a loose interpretation of the Seven Sisters pattern. I'm in love with how it is coming together. I already have the next round of blocks made.

I made two little Easter pouches for my dad's wife and my sister-in-law for Easter.

I quilted the Glamping 5 & Dime quilt I made. I'll get it bound by the end of May.

My Radiant Star quilt is completed! I spent the entire month finishing the quilt for my co-worker, the program director I work with, who is retiring.

I wanted to have the sides pop a bit, so I put magic binding on it.

I even broke out the embroidery machine and made a label for it.

I pieced the backing as well.

I also finished sewing my oldest UFO. This is a table runner I started with EPP hexies back in June of 2011. I'm just so happy to finally have it done.

My last finish for the month came in the wee late hours. It took me 3 evenings of sewing to make this Tudor Bag for the Sew Sweetness contest. I am also going to be teaching a class on how to make it in June. It's a great bag and I love the subtle colors.


Our family went to Wall to experience my dad's wife join the Catholic Church on Easter Saturday night. We got a family picture, which turned out pretty good, considering it was after 11 PM.


Yards In this Month: 8.75
Yards Out this Month: 55.5
Yards In this Year: 48
Yards Out this Year: 123.75
For a total of 75.75 yards used!
Check out other stash reports at Patchwork Times.

I also had 72 hours of sewing time this month. Major parts of that came from 2 days of quilting at my dad's and a LOT of hand work. I spent several hours each week doing hand stitching and even had one day of 4 hours straight hand stitching. I am so pleased with the progress I've made on my UFO EPP projects. 

Embroidery Sunday

I have wanted to make some embroidered towels for quite a while, but finally got them bought about a month ago. It took me another month to get the embroidery stuff out and make them. So long in fact that my computer had to be re-booted and I lost the software and had to re-install it. Luckily all the stars aligned and on Sunday I got to spend about 3 solid hours embroidering.
I made Uncle Tom a towel for camping, since we made Aunt Jane one a while back.

A towel for me for camping this weekend

A towel for Grandma

A towel for daddy

A t-shirt for Grandma Leslie (she has a sweatshirt, but I wanted to make her a t-shirt).

Then I just had to make Grandma Ann a new t-shirt since Payton was born after I made her sweatshirt.

My friend Pat gave me this stand for graduation and our professional picture fits in it perfectly! I just love this picture and the great saying on the stand.

December Sewing in Review

I started out December strong, well the first hour of it! I finished this purse in the wee hours of December 1. It's the Barbados bag and I'll be teaching it in February. I have one started for me, but just didn't find the time to get it made.

Then the month went rather south and I didn't get a whole lot accomplished. We were gone, working our 3rd job, and sick for most of the month. I did finish this Day Break Sample for a class I plan to teach in January. It's a fun little block to make and the class will be a starting point for the whole quilt if anyone is interested. I'm teaching a series of classes this year using the Hex And More Ruler and the Sidekick Ruler. This uses both.

I've always wanted to do a Swoon class, so I finally decided to do it as a one block class. That way people can make a wall hanging or table topper, before committing to the whole quilt. Since the class is during Stock Show I made a western fabric sample, but I also have modern fabric blocks done as well. I still love this block and now that I've made several I've gotten it figured out how to press to make them easier.

I also made this hexie ornament for an exchange with friends. It didn't turn out how I expected, but it was okay.

I worked a lot on my Buggy Barn hexies during work breaks and have almost all the sashing done. Now I need to figure out how I will finish it.

For our niece and nephews this year I made embroidered towels with the kids names. I think they turned out pretty cool. Mikaela helped pick the colors and she has decided she wants one too, so I'll have to get on that. They are quick and easy to do once I make up my mind to set up the embroidery machine.

I was playing with the V5 software when I was making the towels and designed this sweatshirt for Grandma Leslie.

Then I screwed up and forgot to change the design, so I made a second one for Grandma Ann.

Then I made the one I had originally intended for Grandma Ann. It has all 5 grandkids on it. Ed and Steph are expecting in March and I'll try to add the new baby's name, if it will fit. Someone said they just need to plan to only use either the G or D. Grandma Ann loves to accessorize, so hers have some jewelry she plans to wear with them. The 3 sweatshirts are all from my mom's "stash" of embroidery items, so I just went with the sizes that fit.

One of the quilt shops in town is closing and last week I went for their 50% off stuff. I picked up a new stashbuster ruler, a wall hanging hanger, and some yellow batik that will match some horse batik I already have.

For Christmas I received awesome gifts from my little bro and his fiance. Two rulers, a seam ripper and nippers. It was so exciting to get quilty gifts.

I needed a quick gift, so I made up a fleece blanket with embroidery on it. I plan to give it later this week and then will share the embroidery. I didn't have time to commit to a quilt, so a blanket will do for now.

This year I won the staff UFO finish competition. Per capita we beat the customers and Tammy gave me this great box. It already has my mini professional tote in it. It's a WIP that will turn into a UFO tomorrow unless I get some major sewing time tonight. I have the front and back made. The pattern is quite a bit different than the full size professional tote, so I am learning a lot and ripping a lot when I don't read the directions quite right. It's definitely a pattern where people will want to take a class to make it.


With only 40 hours in so far this month, I just haven't gotten a lot accomplished. Looking back I didn't do too bad though. I have a quilt retreat coming up in January and then sewing with friends in February, so I hope to get more accomplished. I have 40+ UFO's on my list for this year, so I hope to get it down to under 10.

May Quilting Accomplishments

In May I started out STRONG, then sewing and quilting took a backseat to life. Quilt retreat was phenomenal and I really got a lot done. I made 6 quilt tops and a couple backings, so I am ready to quilt those when I get some time. I ended up doing quite a bit of embroidery which worked out okay too, but it is a lot of work to get set up.
I embroidered my work bag.

I embroidered a sewing bag

I made Mathew a monkey blankie.

I embroidered a tote for Gaila.

I embroidered a hat for Mathew, he probably won't wear until next summer.

I quilted and embroidered pillow shams for my dad for his retirement party. It was interesting learning how to use the software to do this style of embroidery.

I also baked my dad a couple pies for his birthday. I made a lemon meriengue and it failed miserably thanks to too many kids and too much multi-tasking.

I did however do really well with the meriengue on the sour cream raisin. It was awesome.

I spent the majority of the month on my managerial communications graduate class. I finished last night and I am so looking forward to having a month off! I am going to get lots of sewing done, or so I hope anyway.